


We Could Have Been

by mooshlam



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, Gen, Sherlolly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 03:31:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooshlam/pseuds/mooshlam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He always misses something, and this time it turned out to be her.<br/>Inspired by something I saw on tumblr the other day.  (unfortunately I can't find the post)<br/>First fic so be nice! :P</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Could Have Been

American’s have this saying “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” A well-remembered phrase from their rash, but in the end, successful bid for independence. But the words themselves are more than a long forgotten phrase in a dusty document hidden under glass in Washington DC, they are a mantra that we as humans live by. We believe that the world works in certain ways, that the seasons always go in the same order, that the sun will set in the evening and rise in the morning, that fire burns and ice freezes, that falling hurts, and getting back up is part of life. But when something happens that opposes all our known conventions and our world loses its bearing on reality—then what are we to do.

I have striven to be a man of reason, a man of cold, calculating logic, devoid of sentiment. The world is simpler that way, it makes sense. But over the last several years, I have slipped into my old ways, allowing friendship, love, sentiment to creep into my life. From Mrs. Hudson, to John Watson, Irene Adler, Mary Watson née Morstan, Greg Lestrade, these people have stolen the cold from my breath, and opened me up to feeling. But none so much as Doctor Molly Hooper.  
Standing up on the rooftop before my fall, I was upset to be leaving my friend, John Watson, but tears I shed and the emotional rollercoaster he heard on the phone were just part of the illusion. Forcing him to believe my lie, I invented tears, just as I had for Mrs. Monkford to learn information about her husband. But the flash of emotion that struck me in the lab, under the cover of darkness with Molly Hooper was real. Too often I had played on what I believed were her feelings and apparent infatuation with me to get what I needed, but in that moment, asking for her help, I realized that it had developed into something stronger. I told her so after I returned, that day she helped me consult. I genuinely believed that Moriarty had slipped up and missed the one person who truly mattered the most. But as it turns out, I was the fool, I was the one who missed it.

She isn’t much different. She still stands turned in on herself like she is ashamed about something, her smile apologetic and embarrassed, but it is no longer embarrassment for herself that she expresses, but rather for me. Duped and lied to this entire time, I played into his game from the start. Though she is nothing like Janine, the words Janine uttered to me that day in the hospital flash suddenly through my mind, _I know what kind of man ya’are, but we could’ve been friends_.

I reach my hand towards her, “We could have been,” my voice shakes.

She straightens and the smile on her lips becomes sad, “No.”


End file.
